House Bill 3239 amends the Oklahoma Veterinary Practice Act, requiring veterinarians using telemedicine to have an established relationship with the client and patient through an in-person examination within the last year.
Veterinarians can't start this connection only through electronic means under the measure. This type of relationship is defined in state statute, and the bill ensures veterinarians put a herd health plan in place with the client within a year.
Rep. Toni Hasenbeck, R- Elgin, and Sen. Casey Murdock, R-Felt, authored the bill which sailed through the Oklahoma House of Representatives and passed the Senate Agriculture & Wildlife Committee in a 9-3 vote.
During the Senate committee, Murdock said having an in-person veterinarian-client-patient relationship protects the clinician and producer. He said it's important for a veterinarian to know the producer is able to treat the animal as recommended.
"The veterinarian knows what kind of facilities you have, he knows that you can take care of the situation, this relieves the stress, the pressure of the shortage of veterinarians," Murdock said.
Rep. Randy Grellner, R- Cushing, asked if this new requirement would restrict access to telemedicine when animals in more remote areas are distressed and a veterinarian is not available for an in-person exam.
Murdock said in situations where livestock is having problems, telemedicine is not going to help because hands-on action will be needed. For telemedicine, he said it is often about prescribing medicine or evaluating an animal.
During debate, Grellner said making a framework for veterinary telemedicine is needed but has concerns about access, and getting in the middle of relationships between veterinarians and clients.
"I think advice, potentially an antibiotic, or just the calm tone of a professional on the other side of the phone, is willingness to help when you're in a time of crisis is something I don't want to legislate out of business," Grellner said. "I think that when we do that, we hurt the freedoms of the people that went into these professions and the people they serve."
Across the state and nation, there is a shortage of large-animal veterinarians. Officials from the National Conference of State Legislature say the shortage has become a large problem in rural areas with big implications for livestock health, agricultural economic stability and food security.
The U.S. has lost about 90% of its large animal veterinarians since World War II, leaving under 2% of veterinarians working only with food animals, according to a John Hopkins study from 2023.
For Murdock, he said the veterinarian shortage must be addressed, and the bill helps create more care for large animals.
"We've gotta have some kind of framework on how, what this is going to look like moving forward in the state, because I think [the use of telemedicine is] going to happen more and more and more," Murdock said.
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